All England Open: Kidambi Srikanth, Satwik-Chirag handed tough draw

Kidambi Srikanth has been handed a tough draw at this year's All England Open, to be held in Birmingham on March 12-17, as he is slated to play world no. 1 Viktor Axelsen in the first round of the year's second BWF Super 1000 event.

This year, Srikanth made two first-round and as many second-round exits. He has also slipped in the world rankings as he is ranked 24th now.

Axelsen, who has been the world no. 1 for 117 weeks now, has been out of competition since the season-opening Malaysia Open, where he lost in the semifinal against Shi Yu Qi.

Ahead of the India Open Super 750, Axelsen, in a social media post, revealed an injury he suffered in Malaysia and pulled out of the event.

It will be interesting to see how Srikanth, the former world no.1, fared against Axelsen in the match.

Among other Indian shuttlers, world no. 7 HS Prannoy, India's highest ranked men's singles player, will begin his campaign against Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei, while Lakshya Sen will face Ng Tze Yong of Malaysia in the first round.

Priyanshu Rajawat, meanwhile, will take on Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia in his opening-round match.

PV Sindhu to face Yvonne Li

In women's singles, PV Sindhu, who has made a roaring return to the court recovering from a knee injury at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Malaysia, has been drawn against Yvonne Li of Germany in the first round.

While Sindhu should not find it hard to surpass the first-round hurdle, her real test will come in the second round where she is likely to go up against world no. 1 and defending champion An Se Young.

Aakarshi Kashyap, the only other women's singles player playing in the event, will play Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei. If Aakarshi wins her first-round match, she will face either world no. 8 Han Yue or Supanida Katethong in the pre-quarterfinals.

Tricky draw for Satwik-Chirag

World no. 1 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look forward to fulfil their dream of winning the All-England Open. However, their road to the title will be thorny.

In the first round, they will face tricky opponents in the Indonesian pair Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan.

If Satwik-Chirag overcomes the first-round obstacle, they will potentially run into world no. 9 Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana. And a win here means the Indian duo, who are still searching for their first title of the year, will have to face off against their arch nemesis, the world no. 5 Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.

In women's doubles, India will have three representations, with Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, buoyant by their historic BATC title triumph with the Indian women's team, will face Indonesia's Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti in the first round.

On the other hand, Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, who have made a comeback into the the top 20 on Tuesday, will take on familiar foe and world no. 18 Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam in the opening round.

Ashwini and Tanisha defeated Yeung sisters in straight games (21-10, 21-14) most recently during the Indian women's team quarterfinal win at the BATC.

The other Indian women's doubles pair in the fray are Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda. They will start their campaign against Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi.

However, no Indian pair made it to the mixed doubles competition of the All England Open.